Lost in Life
by jab20176
Summary: It's my version of Treasure Planet!!! I added a character who puts a new twist to the story! She's the great-grandaughter of Captain Flint! The story is much better than the summary, I promise!!
1. Chapter One

Chapter One

            I was never the fortunate person.  I was never the one everyone wanted to be with.  No one really knew me, and if anyone ever had they eventually forgot about me or left me behind.  I was a lost girl in a wide universe trying to make her way by chasing a dream.  I was determined that what I was told was a story was real.  I was living proof.  My name is Christine Flint and my goal was set to find a treasure that everyone thought was just a story.

            Everyone was busy running to their ship or just trying to make their way through a giant spaceport.  I was looking for a particular ship, but it wasn't a problem for me to find it.  I had practically lived at this spaceport since I was eight.  I'd been on so many voyages, I lost track of the exact number.  It was the only thing I had left in life.  With both my parents dead, the only purpose I had was to find a long, lost planet from a legend.  But I was special.  I had a lead that no one else had.  

            On the ship R.L.S. Legacy, the crew was already busy packing and getting ready for the trip ahead.  I was early, so I began to get to work.  The rough-looking crew stared at me funny, probably wandering who I was and how I got here.  I wasn't surprised.  I was small, blonde, 15-year-old human girl.  Everyone else was a brutish, rough and pirate-looking.  But that wasn't a problem for me and I didn't care what they thought either.  I was used to not fitting in and being looked at funny.  I never fit in anywhere.  Ever.

            An hour or so passed when the last passengers arrived.  Though two people caught my eye out of the whole crowd, a boy and what looked like a guy in a spacesuit.  They began to speak with Mr. Arrow (the captain's first mate), when I came to realize that the man in the suit was Doctor Doppler, the financier of our voyage.

            "I'd like to introduce you to someone; Jim Hawkins.  You see, Jim is the one who found the treasure m-" he began but was cut-off by Captain Amelia.

            "Dr., I'd like a word with you in my stateroom," she interrupted.  They all headed to the captain's room.  My heart felt like it was going to melt.  I knew what Dr. Doppler meant to say.  After all my searching, the map was finally found.  I was relieved to know that I'd finally be on my way to Treasure Planet.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

            The ship took off, setting fourth on our journey through a star-covered sky.  I loved watching ships launch.  Space whales glided by, singing out their songs.  I wanted to stay and watch everything slowly pass, but I had work to do.  The boy I saw earlier was already busy moping, but he didn't look too pleased about it though.  A crew member walked by, shoving him aside.

            "Watch it, twerp," it threatened.  A couple people of the crew were talking in the corner, but when they were spotted by the boy, they stopped.

            "What are you looking at, weirdo?" it asked.  Then its head popped off, and walked to a box next to him by using his hair as legs "Yeah, weirdo."

            "That was one of the strangest things I'd ever seen," I thought.  Mr. Scroop walked up to the boy.

            "Cabin boys should learn to mind their own business," he spat.

            "So that's why he's here.  He's the cabin boy," I thought.

            "Why, you got something to hide, bright eyes?" said the boy.  He had clearly never been with a crew like this.  Even I knew that you should never mouth off, or you'd end up with a broken nose, or even dead.

            "Maybe your ears don't work so well," said Scroop in an angry voice.

            "Too bad my nose works just fine," the boy answered.  

"Definitely a wrong move," I thought as Scroop pinned the boy against the pole holding the sails.  A crowd gathered around them screaming "fight!" and "kill him!" 

"Any last words then, cabin boy?" asked Scroop, ready to cut his head off.  Suddenly, John Silver walked up.  I had no idea he was on this trip, but don't get me wrong….I was not pleased to see him.

"Mr. Scroop," he began, grabbing Scroop's claw with his cyborg hand "ever see what happens to a fresh purp when you squeeze real hard?"  Silver squeezed Scroop's hand so hard that it forced him to drop the boy to the ground.  Mr. Arrow walked out just then.

"What's all this then?" he asked "you know the rules.  There will be no brawling on this ship, and any further offenders will be confined to the brig for the rest of the voyage.  Am I clear Mr. Scroop?"  

"Transparently," he answered, but I could tell he didn't mean it and was trying his best not to explode and hit Mr. Arrow right then and there.  Mr. Arrow walked back, and the crowd eventually cleared up.  Silver began to talk to the boy, but I didn't bother to try to listen in.  Silver walked away leaving Morph (a small, pink shape shifter) to keep an eye on the cabin boy.  He continued on to mop the deck, looking up occasionally to glance at the sky and the planets that we passed.  One of the times he spotted me and stopped to look closer.  Just like everyone else, he probably wondered what the heck I was doing on this ship.  I continued on my way as if he never saw me.  I walked past a room were all of the pirate-looking crew had a meeting.  They stopped when I walked by, probably thinking I was the captain or Mr. Arrow.  I glared at Silver; I've hated him since I was eight.  It was a long story and it made me cry to think of it.  He stepped out of the room.

"You best be keepin 'tis a secret," he said, glaring at me.  I knew what he meant.  He was talking about the treasure.  The crew was a bunch of pirates, and Silver was in control of them.  I knew it all along; I just didn't say anything because we were after the same thing.  If I told anyone he was a pirate, he could easily say I was a pirate too.  Because I didn't have any parents or a home, I'd be put in jail right away.  It wasn't fair, he could easily over-rule me, but there was nothing I could do but keep my mouth shut.  I kept going on my way; he knew very well that I'd never tell anyone.

Later on I walked back to where the boy had been mopping to pile up a few ropes.  He was still hard at work.

"So, are you…."he began, searching for the right words "part of this crew?"  I nodded, not interested in talking.

"You don't seem to much like anyone else here," he commented.  I kept going on my way, totally ignoring him.  He walked up to me and held out his hand.

"I'm Jim Hawkins," he offered.  I looked up at him closely.  He had a smile on his face, which was something I hadn't seen anyone do on this ship do all day.  I shook his hand.

"I'm Christine.  Well, Chris, really," I answered, careful not to give out my last name "the cabin….girl"

Jim chuckled at my little joke, but that was just about as much as I planned to say to him.

It was strange really.  Ever since my parents died, I never trusted anyone.  I never talked to strangers, or bothered to make a friend, no matter how friendly they seemed.  I had never given my name that freely before, but somehow, it didn't bother me.  It didn't feel like Jim was a bad guy.  I had adapted that ability a long time ago, and I was very glad I had it too, being on my own and all.

"So, why did u want to come on this trip anyway?" he asked.  Not sure of what my answer would be, I kept silent.  He didn't say anything either, realizing that I didn't want to talk.  He turned back to his work.  I was surprised at this though.  Not very many teenagers would respect privacy so well, and show respect; even though I would be taking orders form him before he took orders from me.  That was just the way things worked; guys were more powerful than girls.  After a little thought, I answered his question.

"You could say I was chasing a dream, I guess," I answered.  Jim sighed partially happy that I answered.

"That makes two of us."

Later that night, I sat staring out the window that hung over my hammock.  I was on the top bunk in the corner of a room.  I tried to get as far away from everyone else as I could, but it was packed full of people.  The only empty hammock was the one below me.  Just then, Jim walked in, carrying his stuff.  Apparently, he hadn't saved a bunk like everyone else had.

"Oh, no," I thought "he's gonna have to bunk with me."  He looked around the room before he spotted the empty bunk underneath me.

"Do you mind if I sleep here?" he asked.   I shook my head.  He dropped his bag and flopped over into the hammock.  I leaned back and closed my eyes.  I made it through the day, which made me very pleased, but I didn't show it.  I had never in my life felt so at ease.  I was also glad to know that my lifelong dream was only a boat ride away.

I woke up the next morning to find that I was the first to wake.  Everyone was still sleeping and snoring.  I put on my shoes and walked out to the deck.  It was vacant, so I sat on the edge of the boat and stared out into space.

Within a few minutes, everyone was up and ready to work.  Silver had ordered Jim to scrape off all the junk that stuck to the outside of the boat while I was in the kitchen wiping down the floors and counters.  A few hours passed and I finished washing at least half the boat.  I had done more than I was ordered to, so I decided to take a break for lunch.  Out of curiosity I walked over to where Jim was working.  He was barely halfway done.  I had done that before, and it wasn't fun at all.  I knew how hard it was to pull off all that crud, so I thought I thought about going down there to help him out.  I almost felt I had to help him.  He was so friendly before and I was so rude.  I had to pay him back somehow.  My stomach growled in denial, but I didn't care.  I jumped down to the little board the hung by ropes that Jim was sitting on.  Jim jumped in surprise when I landed, unaware I had jumped down.  I smiled at him as he stared in confusion. I picked up a tool and began to help.  No one said anything the whole time, and we didn't finish until late that evening.

"Well that was fun," Jim said sarcastically as he wiped the sweat from his face.  I began to tug on the rope to pull us back onto the boat as Jim did the same.

Just as we got to the top, one of the ropes began to split and fall apart.  The small wood plank we were on slanted to the side.

"Ah!" I screamed as I jumped for the edge of the boat.  Apparently, Jim hadn't thought to grab onto the boat and fell with the small piece of wood.  The rope that was connected to the ship began to slide past, giving Jim something to hold onto.  I grabbed the rope and tried to pull it back up.

"It's beginning to break!" Jim yelled.

"Um, hold on!" I shouted, frantically trying to find a way to save Jim.  I grabbed another rope and tied one end to the ship, and the other end to my waist.  I then jumped over the edge and grabbed Jim's hand, just before he fell.  We were both gasping for breath.  Jim looked scared out of his mind, but I probably would be too.  The rope was slowly pulled up pulling us both back to the deck.  Half of the crew was staring at us, including Captain Amelia and Silver. 

"What happened?" asked Dr. Doppler.

"He fell and-" I began, but I was interrupted.

"I saw the whole thing," said the captain.  I gulped.

"What you did was truly brave.  I thank you for it, but from now on I want all ropes and lifelines to be checked thoroughly," she said.  I smiled sheepishly. 

"Everyone back to work!" yelled Silver.  The crowd vanished leaving just Silver, Jim and I.

"Well, its bout time ye' finished," he teased "that was pretty close.  Now go into te' kitchen and get yourselves some dinner.  Ya haven't eaten all day."  I could tell that this nice comment had been geared toward Jim, not me.  I bet Silver couldn't care less about me.

We headed into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl of soup.  It was already packed with all the crew, busy eating and talking about who knows what.  Instead of sitting down with everyone else, I walked to the other end of the room and sat at an empty table.  Jim had just sat down with everyone else, but then got up from where he was and sat down next to me.

"You know, you make more friends if you made more of an effort to include yourself," he recommended.  I didn't say anything to him.  It wasn't because I didn't like him or anything like that, I just didn't trust anyone.  Jim stretched his arm around my back and tapped my shoulder.  Thinking someone wanted my attention, I turned, but no one was there.  A little confused, I went back to my meal.  Then I felt the tap again, so I tuned to find the whole place blank.  I was very confused, and partially scared.  Jim started to crack up, laughing hysterically.  I realized it was him and frowned.  I didn't like pranks that much.  Jim smiled at me.  He looked so happy and peaceful.  I lightly punched his arm and began laughing myself.  And for the first time in seven years, I smiled.

When my parents died, everyone I knew tried to make me feel better, but none of their attempts did any good.  And for some reason, Jim could make me laugh without even trying.  I eventually lost any friends I had, and lost touch with all my relatives.  But I didn't need them, or so I thought.  I made my way by sailing from port to port and living by whatever I could find.  There was something about Jim, I just didn't know what.  It was something I had never felt before in my life.

Late that night we were stuck washing all the dishes.  But it was okay, really.  Instead of working in silence, we talked and laughed the whole time.  We ended up splashing water at each other and playing around a lot.  It was more of a water fight than a job.  The time flew by, but no matter how hard we worked, the huge pile of dirty dishes never seemed to go down.  I was beginning to get very sleepy.  Jim laid back and leaned against the cabinet.

"What are you doing?  We still have a few dishes left," I complained.

"You can do them…." he smiled.  Jim closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head.

"These pots are huge!  They'll take me forever!" I whined.

"Knock yourself out," he said, half asleep.  I knew he was only kidding, but I wasn't about to do these things alone and give him the easy way out.  I looked around and saw that one of the pots had water in it, so I stuck my hand in.  It was freezing.  Feeling sneaky, I picked up the pot and dumped it on Jim's head.  He sat there for a moment, dripping wet and freezing cold.  He looked up at me through messy bangs that stuck to his head from the water.  I smiled and laughed.  Jim picked up a pan that had caught some of the water that fell from the pot and dumped it on me.

Eventually we finished the dishes, but we were both soaking wet.  Jim pulled out a couple towels from the cabinet and tossed one to me.  I wrapped it around my body and leaned back.  Jim sat next to me.  

"How long do you think it will be before we get there?" I asked.

"I dunno, I just hope it's soon," Jim replied.

"Why?"

"I have a lot of plans," his answer was simple, and unclear.

"Plans?" I questioned.

"Yeah, plans," he said.  

"Are you too embarrassed to tell me?" I caught on fast.  He looked at me slyly; probably amazed I knew what he was thinking about.

"Not many people think very highly of me back at home and I want to change that," he answered.  I nodded, not having an answer to reply with.

"Do you have any plans?" Jim asked hopefully.

"Not really," I lied.  It was as if he could read my mind.

"You're lying," he smiled.

"I am?" I asked questionably.  Jim chuckled again, and then continued.

"No really," he urged.

"I," I began "I want to," I stopped myself, not wanting to admit the answer.  What if I blew my cover and Jim found out I was after the treasure?  What would happen if he found out that I was related to the infamous Captain Flint?

"I want to make up for all the things I lost in life," I answered.  It was real corny, but true.  Jim thought for a moment, trying to figure out what I meant, and then he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes again.

I closed my eyes too, and fell asleep.  Even though it had started peaceful, my night didn't stay that way.

I had a nightmare that I had been having for the past 7 years.  I would walk home from school on a dark stormy night and find the front door unlocked.  A little scared I walked into my home to find no sign of anyone being there.  I called for my parents, but there was no answer.  I was only eight years old, and not aware of how much danger I was in.  I walked through the house to come to the kitchen and find the scariest image of my life.  My parents lay dead on the floor.  Horror stricken and scared I ran out screaming, not sure of what I should do.  When I came to the front door, I was face-to-face with a cyborg.  But I was too little to know what that was.  From my point of view, all I saw was a monster.  Its hand looked like I giant claw and it had an eye that glowed through the dark.  Lightning struck somewhere in the distance making his face visible for a split second.  I'll never forget that face of that man and it's all because of him that my life fell into pieces.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

The next week we were on the ship went at about the same pace.  I talked to Jim more and more often, slowly making a new friend.  Nothing really happened, and no one really cared.  It was like any other trip I'd ever been on.  Then, at the last day, something happened that would change everything.

The day started out usual, and was almost over without any trouble.  When suddenly an explosion knocked the boat to its side causing everyone to fall to the ground.  I looked around to see what was going on.

"Good heavens!"  I heard the Dr. exclaim over all the commotion "the star Pelusa!  It's gone supernova!"

"Evasive action, Mr. Turnbuckle!" the captain ordered.

"All hands fasten your lifelines!!" Mr. Arrow bellowed.  Everyone ran toward the lifeline pole and tied a rope tight around their waist.  Windows shattered and boards flew all over the place.  Chunks of rock shot through the sails leaving holes.

"Mr. Arrow!  Secure those sails!" screamed Captain Amelia.

"Secure all sails!!" hollered Arrow.  The crew got to work and began to take all the sails down.  We had just finished when something came to view that was too big to ignore.  I giant rock at least 300 times the size of the ship inched closer to us.  The gunman had tried to fire at it but it was far too big to destroy.  Just before the rock hit, it began to back away.  Confused and shocked, everyone watched.

"It's devolving into a black hole!" Doppler gasped.  The black hole began to pull us in, along with the rock.  A giant wave flew past us knocking everyone to the floor once again.  The force caused Mr. Turnbuckle (the person at the steering wheel) to shoot off to the ground.

"Blast these waves!  There so deucedly erratic!" exclaimed the captain.

"No, captain!  There not erratic at all!  There will be one more in precisely 47.2 seconds!" yelled Doppler, hovering over the computer "followed by the biggest magilla of them all!"

"Of course!  Brilliant Doctor!  We'll ride that last magilla out of here!" Captain Amelia exclaimed.

"All sails secured, captain!" yelled Mr. Arrow.

"Good men.  Now release them immediately!" she ordered.  Confused but not hesitating to follow orders, Mr. Arrow did as he was told.

"Aye captain," he said, and then turned to the rest of the crew "You heard her men!  Unfurl those sails!"  A few people complained, but did as they were told.

"Mr. Hawkins!" the captain yelled "secure all lifelines good and tight!"

"Aye-aye, captain!" Jim answered as he ran over to the pole where they were all tied down.  I began to release the sails when suddenly Mr. Arrow flew off the ship.  I ran to help him but Scroop beat me to it.  Without warning, Scroop cut the rope before I could do anything about it.  I watched in horror as Mr. Arrow slowly faded away into the black hole.

"Captain!  The last Wave!  Here it comes!" Dr. Doppler screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Hold onto your lifelines; it's gonna be a bumpy ride!" yelled the captain.  I stood stiff in my position, too shocked to move.  Jim noticed me standing there and grabbed my arm.

"Chris!  Hold on!" he yelled as he pulled me to the pole he was holding onto.  Coming out of my trance I gripped the pole.  Jim still had his arm wrapped around me.  I closed my as the ship was swallowed by darkness.  I waited for a sign of movement, not exactly sure if we made it out or if we were dead.  There was a huge "boom" and the ship shot off out of the black hole.  Jim let go as everyone began to rejoice.  We made it out!!  Everyone jumped up and down with joy.  I would have been happy too, but a scary thought lingered in the back of my mind.  Mr. Arrow died!  How could I ignore that!?

"All hands accounted for, Mr. Arrow?" Captain Amelia called out, but there wasn't an answer "Mr. Arrow?"  Right then, Scroop walked up holding Mr. Arrow's hat.

"I'm afraid Mr. Arrow has been lost.  His lifeline was not secured," Scroop lied.  The captain turned to Jim with disappointed eyes.

"I checked them all!" Jim claimed as he ran over the pole where they were attached "I-I did.  I checked them all!  They were secure!  I swear!"  Captain Amelia took a deep breath, trying her best not to show her emotions.

"Mr. Arrow was a fine spacer.   Finer than most of us could ever hope to be," she managed to choke out "but he knew the risks, as do we all.  We carry on."  She headed back into her stateroom, griping the hat tightly in her hands.  Scroop grinned at Silver, thinking he had done something good, but he was wrong.  Everyone eventually left, but Jim stayed behind, staring at the lifelines in disbelief.

Angry with what Scroop had done, I walked over to where Arrow had fallen off.  In the corner of the boat was his lifeline.  One of the ends was frayed-it must have been where Scroop cut it.  I picked it up and headed back to my bunk bed to hide it.  I knew Scroop would be looking for it so that no one could prove that he killed Arrow.  I headed back up the stairs and ran into Jim.  He looked depressed.

"Jim," I began, still deciding if I should show him or not.  He kept on walking as if I wasn't there.  He was upset and probably didn't feel like talking, but he had to know.  I just had to show him.

"Jim, wait!" I called out.  He stopped walking, but didn't turn around to face me.  I couldn't say anything, I was really too afraid to.  Realizing that I didn't have anything to say, Jim continued on his way.

"Jim, I need to show you something," I told him.  I then forced myself to walk over to my hammock and pull out the rope.  I handed it to him, but he just looked at me funny "Its Mr. Arrow's lifeline," I informed.  Jim looked at it closer.

"Wait a minute," said Jim "the end is cut!"  I nodded in a way of saying "keep going".

"Did someone cut it?!?" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, it wasn't your fault at all; Scroop cut the rope when he thought no one was looking.  I saw the whole thing," I admitted.  I suddenly froze.

"What's wrong?" asked Jim.

"I heard something.  I think someone is listening to us," I informed as I crept around the corner.  No one was there.

"I don't see anybody," said Jim.  I thought for a moment.  I knew someone was there, I just hoped that it wasn't Silver or Scroop.

That night was really rough.  I couldn't help to feel awful for Mr. Arrow who died with no reason and for Jim who had been blamed for something he didn't do.  And I was afraid that an extra pair of ears heard what I told Jim.  If it was who I thought it was, they'd be after me.  And with those dreadful thoughts I fell asleep, hoping and praying that everything would be okay when I got up the next morning. 

The next morning, I woke up due to Morph, who thought it would funny to kick me with Jim's boot.  I jumped and looked around.  Under me was Jim holding a shoe in his hands.  Tired but giggling, I picked up the other shoe and hit Jim.  He jumped awake and looked at the boot that had been placed there by Morph (but neither of us knew that yet).

"What the," he said as he too looked around for the culprit.  He probably knew right away that it was me so he began to hit the bottom of my hammock.

"Hey!" I hollered as I bent over.  Just then Morph began laughing and chattering.

"Morph!" Jim and I screamed at the same time.  We jumped out of bed and began chasing Morph through the kitchen and out onto the deck.   We continued to run, trying to grab the little pink blob.  He popped down onto the small gated area that connected from the deck to the kitchen.  We defiantly couldn't fit down there ourselves, so we walked back to the kitchen the way we came.  We couldn't find him (but we really didn't try to hard) so Jim headed back to the bunk room.

"I'm going back to bed," he moaned "it's too early for games."  I began to follow him when I voice stopped me.

"Ah, 'tere ye are Miss Flint," said Silver "can I have a quick word wit' ya?"  I didn't want to talk to him, but what else could I do?

"Now lass, I thought we were gonna keep 'tis a secret," he said.  He must have been the one that heard me last night.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd kill anyone," I answered.

"Now, see here," he began, but I interrupted.  I had a lot of time to think about what happened that night, and I wanted to give Silver a piece of my mind, no matter how much trouble I got in.

"I'm not gonna let you kill the only people I have let in this world all because of some treasure again!" I screamed.  I had wanted to tell him that for a long time "I'll say what ever I want to if you're gonna go that far!"

"I'll say what's ter say!!" Silver bellowed "And as fer you, ya better not tell anyone else, or so help me, I'll be sure that you're dead by 'te time we arrive!!"  I glared at him.  He knew what I meant earlier.  He was the monster that I saw over and over in my dream.  He was the one who killed my parents.  Up on the deck, someone screamed "land ho!" and everyone became excited.  Except for me.

"Ya know, come ter think of it, I know of a way we can end this problem right now," Silver chuckled.  He brought his hands brought his hands behind his back, hoping to conceal what he was doing.  He made a small *ping* noise as he turned his mechanical hand into a gun.  Scared of what he might do, I backed up.  Unfortunately, I hit the wall, and I was trapped.  I saw Jim poke his head around the corner.  He caught sight of the gun and picked up a knife.  Silver on the other hand, brought the gun into my view and aimed it at me.  Suddenly, Jim charged at us, and stuck the knife into Silver's robot leg.  Silver screamed in pain as Jim grabbed my hand and ran for the captain's stateroom.

"Change of plan boys!" Silver hollered "we move now!!"


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"Pirates on my ship?!" exclaimed Captain Amelia "I'll see that they're all hanged!"  Amelia pulled out guns from her cabinet and pulled out the map.  She tossed it to Jim.

"Guard this with your life," she said.  Just then, Morph snatched it and spun around chirping.  

"Morph, no!" yelled Jim as he yanked it from the critter's mouth.  The captain then tossed a gun to Doppler.

"Doctor, familiar with these?" she asked.

"Well, I seen, uh, I've read-" he began to stutter but was cut off by the gun firing into the wall "no, not at all."

Suddenly, there was a bang at the door.

"Step back," said the captain as she pointed her gun at the floor.  She fired is and created a hole in the ground just big enough for a person to fit through.  The captain went first, followed by the doctor, then Jim.  I was the last.  I jumped through, but my sleeve on my jacket caught on a piece of wood sticking out from the hole.

"Jim, help!"  I screamed "I'm stuck!"  Jim ran over and began to pull me down.  One of the pirates that had broken in grabbed my arm and began to pull me back into the stateroom.  If it were a tug-of-war game, Jim would have lost.  I was almost completely back in the stateroom.  Without thinking, I pulled my boot off hit the pirate with it as hard as I could.  The pirate dropped me and I fell to the floor.  We ran to the longboats, trying to make an escape.  The captain and Dr. Doppler were already inside one.  I jumped in, followed by Jim.  Morph suddenly took the map and raced away.

"Morph, no!" Jim yelled as he went after him, running into Silver.

"Come 'ere Morphie!" Silver called out.

"Come on, Morph!  Come here!" Jim begged.  Morph was confused and upset so he dropped down into a pile of ropes.  Silver's hurt leg kept him from moving very far, so he reached over to it.  Before he could grab the map, Jim beat him to it.  Jim then ran off, back to the longboat as Silver pointed a gun at him.  But he couldn't bring himself to it, and let Jim run off with the map.

Jim dove for the boat just as we pulled out.  He barely made it and was hanging off the edge.  I pulled him up, just in time.  The ship fired its laser cannon at us, hitting the engine of our longboat.  It exploded, forcing us to head straight toward the planet.  We swerved and turned, trying to keep from crashing, but there was nothing we could do.  We hit the ground with a loud thud and dragged along against the grass before coming to a complete stop.  Jim and the doctor crawled out; the captain and I were still trapped inside.  Jim then pushed the boat over to its side.  We came out, and from what it looked like, we were both okay.

"One of my more gossamer landings," said Captain Amelia "ahh!" she exclaimed, suddenly clutching her side.  The doctor ran to her side, but she rejected the help.

"Oh, tish-tosh.  It's just light bruising, that's all.  No need to fuss, just a cup of tea and I'll be right as rain," she assured, turning to Dr. Doppler "Mr. Hawkins" she stopped, squinted, and then turned to Jim "the map, if you will."

Jim reached into his pocket and pulled it out.  The map floated above his hands as its pieces slowly came apart.  Thinking it was going to do something, we all stared in amazement.  Then, the map turned out to be Morph.  He started to laugh and giggle, thinking he was very clever to have pulled off such a trick.

"Morph!!" Jim hollered "where's the map!!"  Morph transformed into the map and a small pile of ropes.  The map part of him floated into the pile of ropes.

"What?!?  It's still on the ship?!?" Jim continued to yell.  Another lifeboat passed by, above our heads.

"Mr. Hawkins," began the captain, handing Jim a gun "you and Miss Flint will scout ahead for a better cover."  Jim looked down at the gun for a second.  I bet he had never had used a gun before.

"Aye Captain," he amswered.

We headed on through the jungle-like forest.  Walking and searching for something to take shelter in.

"So," Jim began "your last name's Flint."  I didn't answer, what would I say anyway?  "It makes sense why you didn't want to tell me your last name in the begging."  There was a moment of silence, and then Jim began to talk again.

"Is that why your parents died?" he asked.

"How did you know?!" I demanded.

"You talk in your sleep, you know.  I heard you in the middle of the night a lot.  And you were always really quiet, not wanting to talk to anyone or make a friend," he explained.  He must have lost someone special to him, too.  

"You seem to know a lot about this," I commented.

"My dad left when I was young.  But I'm doing just fine," he told me.  I said that before myself.  I told everyone that I was "doing just fine", but I never meant it.

"It hurts, doesn't it?  Feeling that you have no purpose in life," I commented.  No one said anything for a while; we were both deep in thought.

"So, is that one of the things you lost in life?" Jim asked thoughtfully.  I took a deep breath.  Thinking about this brought back painful memories and it almost made me cry.

"Yeah," I answered.  It's like Jim knew exactly what I was talking about.  He was the first person who I had ever talked to that had gone through the same thing I had, kind of.

"I could never trust anyone, after my parents died, I mean," I said.  I didn't want to ever tell anyone this, but I had kept this inside me so long, I had to let it out sometime.

"And I felt like I had nothing left.  There wasn't anyone who cared about, or would think twice about me.  I felt," I paused, hating myself for sounding so dumb "alone."  I stopped walking, staring at the ground.  I was crying now, but I didn't want Jim to know so I hid my face.  I was usually able to hide my emotions really well, but I couldn't help it this time.  Jim walked up to me.

"Chris, are you okay?" he asked in a very caring way.  I didn't answer and continued to hide my face in my hands.  Jim probably knew how upset I was, and how good it felt to let these emotions out of me.  He gently wrapped his arms around my body.  I began to sob even harder, and it seemed like that the more I cried; the tighter Jim held me.

"It's okay," Jim whispered quietly "you're not alone anymore."  I felt peaceful, for the few moments I was in Jim's arms.  He was so kind and gentle, no matter how corny I sounded, or how weak I must have seemed.  Right then I realized what I felt when I was with Jim.  I didn't want to admit because I thought Jim wouldn't think of me the same way, but I knew very well what it was.  It was something I had never felt before, as I mentioned, and never thought I would in my life.  Jim eventually let go, long after I had stopped crying.  We were both silent, neither of us expecting what had happened.  I took another deep breath, and smiled at him weakly in a way of saying "thanks".  He smiled back, and I knew that everything would be okay.  

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble, but then it stopped.  I looked around, trying to figure out what the heck just happened.  I looked up at Jim, who shrugged and glanced behind him then turned back.  We were about to move on when it shook again.  This time I could tell that it came from the ground.  It shook one last time, then fell, bringing Jim and I with it.  We both screamed as we toppled to the ground.  It was a pretty hard fall, so it took a couple seconds before I pulled myself up.  

"What happened?" I said as I rubbed the back of my head.  Jim sighed and stood up, but tripped on a vine.  We were on a very steep hill, and apparently, it was slippery too.  I grabbed his hand, but I ended up sliding down the hill with him.  It was like we were two kids sliding down a plastic slide at an amusement park, but we didn't find it amusing at all.  We went faster and faster, until eventually, the slide stopped, shooting us up into the air and back down with a very painful landing.  I forced myself up, barely able to move.

"Is it over this time?" I complained.  Jim staggered to his feet.

"I hope we don't get anymore surprises like that," he groaned.  Suddenly, the bush beside me moved.

"What was that?" asked Jim.  I looked closer at a pile of bushes that was next to me.  Unexpectedly, something jumped out and hugged me.

"Oh, this is fantastic!  Carbon-based life forms here to rescue me at last!" it announced "I just wanna hug you and squeeze you and hold you close to me!"

"Will you let go of me?!"  I demanded, prying his arms off me.

"Oh, oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry.  It's just that I've been marooned on this planet for so long.  I mean, the solitudes fine, don't get me wrong, but for heaven sakes, after a hundred years, you go a little nuts!!" it screamed.  Jim and I stared for a moment at the crazy robot.

"Oh, I'm sorry.  Let me introduce myself.  I'm, no wait, I'm, uh, my name is……" it stopped, scratching its head and straining to remember its name.  I turned to Jim with an irritated look.

"I hate this planet!!!" I thought.  Morph transformed into a small robot with the cuckoo bird from a clock coming out of its head.  I smiled, giggling at the cute little creature.

"B.E.N.!  Of course, I'm B.E.N.!  Bio-electronic navigator!" he spelled out "and you are."  He looked at me funny, as if he was trying to figure out who I was, but I had never met him in my life.

"Chris, and this is Jim," I answered.

"Pleased to meet ya, Chrissy and Jimmy," it said, shaking both of our hands really hard. 

"Look, we're kinda in a hurry.  We have to find a place to hide and there's pirates chasing us," Jim began.

Pirates?!?  Don't get me started on pirates!!  I don't like them," B.E.N. interrupted and then turned to me "speaking of which, you look strangely familiar.  You aren't by any chance related to Flint, are you?  I remember him, but this guy had such a temper."

"Wait, you knew my great-grandfather?"  I asked, shocked that this android new Captain Flint.

"I think he suffered form mood swings, personally, I'm not a therapist.  But I- you let me know when I'm rambling," B.E.N. rambled on.

"But wait, that means, but then you must know about his treasure!" I shouted.

"Treasure?" said B.E.N.

"You know, Flint's trove, the loot of a thousand worlds?" I encouraged.

"I, I re-remember.  Treasure.  Lots of treasure, all buried in the cen-centroid, centroid of the mechanism.  I remember a big door opening and closing and opening and closing.  And Flint wanted to make sure that no one could steal his treasure so I helped him" he faded off, sputtering, then started up again "data inaccessible!" he screamed.  B.E.N. began yelling "reboot" over and over again.  Finally, Jim slapped him and he stopped.  I guessed he was short-circuiting or something.  He froze for a moment, and then woke up again.

 "You know, you look strangely familiar.  Are you related to Captain Flint by any chance?" he turned to Jim "and you are?"

"What was that you said earlier about the treasure?  Something about the centroid of the mechanism, or" he stuttered, trying to restate B.E.N.'s words.

"I'm sorry; my mind's not what it used to be.  I've lost my mind, I've lost my mind!!  You haven't found it, have you?  My missing piece?  My primary memory circuit?" B.E.N. asked as he pointed to a few loose wires on the back of his head.

"Look, B.E.N., we really need to find a place to hide, okay?  So we're just gonna be, you know, moving on," Jim told him as he began to walk away.  B.E.N.'s face dropped down as if he was upset.

"So, uh, oh, well then, I guess this is good-bye?  I'm sorry I'm so dysfunctional.  I do understand, I do.  Bye-bye," said B.E.N. softly as he fell to the ground.  Jim looked at Morph, who whined, then turned to me.  I looked at him and smiled in a way of saying, "let him come along."  I almost felt bad for him actually.  Jim sighed.

"Look, if you're gonna come along, you'll have to stop talking," Jim gave in.

"Hazzah!" yelled B.E.N. in joy "this is fantastic!  Me and my best buddies out looking for a," he stopped for a moment, and then whispered "being quiet."

"Now, I think we should head this way," Jim began, pointing back the way we came, but then turned back realizing that we'd have to climb up a slide.

"Hey, listen, before we go out on our big search, would you mind if we made a quick pit-stop at my place?" asked B.E.N., pulling aside some plants.  Behind them was stone building on top of a hill.

"B.E.N., I think you just solved our problem," I commented.

We came back a while later with Dr. Doppler and the captain.

"Sorry for the mess people.  You'd think that in a hundred years, I would have dusted a little more," B.E.N. admitted "but when you're batchin' it you tend to let things go."  Doppler walked in carrying Captain Amelia.

The doctor laid Captain Amelia on the ground and looked around at the inside of the building.  He looked astonished to see all the strange markings all over the place.  I, thought you're not going to believe this, could read what it said.  I began to move my lips as I read all that was sculptured onto the metal walls.  Jim noticed what I was doing.

"Hold on," he began "you can read this?!"  I nodded sheepishly.  I didn't like to brag.

"What does it say?!" demanded Doppler, suddenly interested in what Jim and I were talked about.  I looked harder at the walls, making sure I had read it right.

"Follow the beam of light, for it will lead you to the centroid of the mechanism," I read.  It was a lot like what B.E.N. had said, only more defined.

"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Jim, just as confused as I was.  I shook my head in reply and continued to read.

"It says that those who enter the centroid will perish and never see light again," I summarized "sounds pretty brutal."

Then, B.E.N., who wasn't paying any attention whatsoever, began to shout in the door, calling down to the pirates that had found us.  They began to fire at us, so Jim shot back.  When they stopped, Silver yelled up to us.

"Hello up there!  Jimbo?" he called, holding up a white flag "if it's okay with the captain, I'd like a short with ya.  No tricks, just a little palaver."

"Come to bargain for the map, don't listen," Captain Amelia choked out.

"Wait, that means, he thinks we still have it," said Jim hopefully.

Jim walked down, and they were so far away that I couldn't make out any of their words.  But after a couple minutes, I heard Silver start to scream.

"If I don't have that map by dawn tomorrow, or so help me, I'll use the ships cannons to blast ye' all to kingdom come!" he yelled.  The talk must not have gone so well.  Jim walked back up, as I sat in the back, trying to find a way to gat that map.  I wasn't paying much attention to what everyone was saying.  I leaned back onto something that stuck out of the ground and it moved.  

"What the," I thought as I looked closer at it.  I felt air coming from the bottom, so I pushed it over to find a hole on it.  It must have caught everyone's attention because they stopped talking.  Jim walked over, followed by B.E.N.

"What is it?" I asked as I gazed down into it.

"You mean the miles and miles of machinery that run through the course of the whole planet?  Not a clue," answered B.E.N.  

"This is our way out!" I shouted.

"Wait, the captain ordered us to stay together," recalled the doctor.

"I'll be back," was all that Jim said as we jumped down into the hole.


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

We finally came to an exit that led right to the spot that Silver and all the other pirates had camped out.  Jim slowly crept out, but was interrupted by B.E.N.

"So what's the plan?!?" B.E.N. screamed.

"Shh!" I hissed, deadly afraid that Silver might wake up.

"We're going to sneak back to the ship, get the map, and disable the laser cannons," Jim whispered.

"How are we gonna do that?" I asked.

"On that," Jim answered as he pointed to the longboat that the pirates used to get down to the planet.

We made it to the ship unnoticed, which made the plan work…so far.  We climbed over the side of the ship, but B.E.N. crashed to the floor.

"Quiet!" whispered Jim.

"Sorry, sorry," B.E.N. apologized.

We walked down the stairs and made sure that no one was looking.

"Okay," Jim began, but was interrupted again by B.E.N.

"I'll disable laser cannons, Jimmy sir!" B.E.N. chimed as he headed for the control room humming.  Jim sighed and turned to me.

"You wait here and keep guard while I go get the map," Jim ordered.

"Okay," I said as Jim walked down the hall to where the longboats were stored.  I looked behind me to make sure no one was coming.  I didn't see anyone.  I then looked back down both hallways to find nobody.

"Good," I thought.  Feeling much more relaxed and at ease I leaned back against the wall.  Unexpectedly, an alarm went off.  It must have been B.E.N. messing with all the wires.  I was about to run and find Jim when suddenly something grabbed me.  I tugged against it as it pulled my arms behind my back.  I turned around to come face to face with Scroop.  He chuckled and pulled out a gun just as Jim ran up.  Jim looked shocked when suddenly the lights went out.  Scroop let go of me and I fell to the floor, knocking over Jim.  Everything was pitch black so I had no idea what the heck I was doing.  We managed to get back up, just as the lights came back on, but we couldn't see Scroop anywhere.  I looked behind me but there was nothing there.  Thinking he left, we slowly began to walk back.  Then out of nowhere, Scroop hit both of us, knocking us down to the ground.  Jim's gun flew out of his hand and skidded along the floor.  He reached for it, but it was too far away.  Scroop pointed his gun at Jim, but was thrown off by something strange.  B.E.N. must have turned off the artificial gravity.  We began to float up, so I kicked Scroop so hard that he flew through the little gated thing and further away from us.  I managed to grab the gun as we floated out off the ship.  I held onto a sail as Jim floated past me.

"Jim!" I yelled, reaching my hand out to him, but it was too late.  He swept past me, but managed to grab the flag, which was only held to the ship by a single rope.  Scroop crawled up and started to tear the rope.

"Do say hello to Mr. Arrow," he laughed.  Jim pulled himself to the pole so that he wouldn't fly away.  Frustrated, Scroop crawled higher up onto the flag so that he could push Jim off himself.  Panicked and scared, I fired the gun at Scroop, but I just missed him.  I hit the rope holding the flag on instead.  Screaming, Scroop flew off into space, the flag wrapped around him.  The gravity turned back on and I fell back to the ground.  Jim looked relieved as he pulled reached for his pocket to make sure that the map has still there.  B.E.N. popped out of the control room, completely covered in wires.

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" he asked.

We made it back to B.E.N.'s house safely, though it was dark and really late.  Jim jumped out of the hole and reached a hand down to pull me up.  Jim ran over to who he thought was the doctor.

"Doc!  Doc, wake up!" he exclaimed "I got the map!"  The figure Jim thought was Dr. Doppler stood up, but as it he came into the light, we realized it wasn't Doppler.

"Fine work, Jimbo, fine work indeed," said Silver as he took the map from Jim's hand.  Out of the darkness came a group of pirates.  Jim tried to make a run for it, but he was too late.  They grabbed all of us; the doctor and the captain were already tied up.  Jim pulled and tugged against the pirates' grip, but he was no match for their strength.  

"You're just like me, Jimbo.  You hates te' loose," Silver chuckled.  He looked at the map and tried to open it.  He pulled it and squeezed it trying to force it open.  He had no luck.  Jim smiled and shook his head.  He must have known how.

"Open it!" Silver demanded.  Jim took the map, but didn't attempt to do anything with it.

"I'd get busy," said Silver sneakily as he pointed his gun at the captain and Dr. Doppler.  Captain Amelia shook her head, telling him not to do anything while the doctor nodded, encouraging him to open it right away.  When the doctor caught sight of the captain shaking her head, Doppler began to do the same.  While still looking at Silver, Jim pressed a few buttons and twisted the small sphere and opened the map.  Out came a bright green line that shot past us and out the door.

"The beam of light," I gasped.

"Tie him up and leave him with the others," said Silver, still amazed in what he saw.  Suddenly, the green line disappeared and returned to the map.

"If you want the map," Jim began "you're taking me too."  Silver grunted, but then smiled.

"We'll take 'em all!" Silver announced.

We rode in the small longboat, following the green trail that lit up every now and then.  As we got closer, it lit up more often.  When we finally came to a dead end, Silver, Jim, B.E.N., a few of the pirates and I got out, leaving the captain, Doppler, and one pirate behind.  The green line flashed faster and faster as we walked the way that it led.

"Jim," I began, short on words.  I had the distinct feeling that something bad was going to happen, and this feeling was never wrong.  I felt the same way the day that I walked home from school on that stormy night that my parents died.  Jim turned around.   He must have been able to tell that I was scared when looked at me.

"It's okay.  It's not over yet," he assured.  Silver changed his hand into a sword.

"I smell treasure awaitin'!" he announced as he cut down the plants that stood in our way.  The green line stopped right over a cliff.  There was nothing there.  The pirates began to complain as the green lien vanished back into the map.

"What's going on?" I asked Jim.

"I don't know.  I can't get it open," he answered, playing with the map and trying to get it to work again.

"We should have never trusted this boy," said a pirate as it pushed him to the ground.  I had no idea what was going to happen.

"What do we do?!" I asked B.E.N. who was standing right next to me.  Before B.E.N. could answer, Jim placed the map in a small hole that sat right in front of him.  A globe popped out and a huge door appeared.

"A door," I said, recalling B.E.N.'s words from before.

"Oh, have mercy," gasped Silver in amazement.  Inside the door was a whole nebula.

"The Lagoon Nebula?" stammered Jim.

"But that's," Silver said with amazement still in his voice "halfway across the galaxy."  Jim looked closer at the globe and touched a few of the miniature planets.  The door opened and closed to show each of the places that had been touched in the globe.

"Lets see," Jim said quietly to himself listing the names of other planets "Kinapis, Montressor Spaceport."  Jim touched the crescent-moon shaped port and the door closed, and then opened to show it.  We all watched in amazement.  It was the strangest thing I'd ever seen in my life.

"So that's how Flint did it," observed Jim "he used this portal to roam around the universe stealing treasure."

"But where did he stash it all!?" yelled Silver, pushing Jim aside and pressing all kinds of buttons on the globe.

"Treasure, treasure, is buried in the," B.E.N. said, pulling at the loose wires on the back of his head trying to remember.

"Buried in the centroid of the mechanism," I finished B.E.N.'s sentence "Hold on, what if the whole planet is the mechanism?  Then the treasure would be buried on the center of this planet!  Just like that writing said!" I exclaimed, pleased with myself that I had solved it.  Jim heard me and turned around, running everything through his head to make sure it made sense.  He smiled slightly.  The pirates next to me stupidly tried to dig through the metal ground, but only ended up breaking their tools.

"So how in blue blazes are we supposed to get there?!" Silver demanded.

"Just open the right door," Jim replied as he touched the planet right in the center.  The door opened once again.  You couldn't really tell what it was from the outside though.  Just before anyone moved, I remembered the last thing I read off of that building before we left.

"Wait!  Don't go in there!  There's a trap!" I screamed.  Jim turned around again, just now remembering it too.  He looked panicked.  The pirate who was next to me got irritated.

"Oh, shut up already," it said, pushing me toward the portal.  Silver walked through, followed by everyone else.

We all walked in, and were completely amazed with what we saw.  It was marvelous enough to make me completely forget about the warning and any other concern I could possibly have.


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

  A giant sphere, the size of 20 ships, circled around.  But the whole thing was covered in treasure.  It looked like solid gold.  The pirates cheered as they all charged over to it.  Silver walked over there too.

"Look at all this," I sighed "It's like it's not even real."

"This all seems very familiar," cried B.E.N., straining to remember.  Jim grabbed my hand and headed over to an old boat filled with treasure that sat a little ways away.

"If that writing was right, something's going to happen that'll kill us," I stated.

"We're getting out of here, and we're not leaving empty handed or dead," he told me as we headed over to it.  Jim jumped over the edge with B.E.N., and then reached down to pull me up.  Just before I put my feet on the boat, I saw something that startled me so much that I fell to the floor.  I quickly got back up.  Straight in front of me was the skeleton of Captain Flint, or at least I thought it was him.  

"It's Captain Flint," I said in awe.  This was all too much really; I couldn't believe it.  I stared at the skeleton, and in his hand he held something very odd.  It looked like a part to a machine.  When I looked at it closer, I realized it was something important.  I reached over and yanked the piece out of the skeleton's hands.  A few bones fell to the ground and shattered to pieces.  I turned to B.E.N. who was complaining and whining about loosing his mind.  I saw the hole on the back of his head and compared it to the piece I held in my hand.  It was perfect.

"B.E.N.," I began "hold still," I told him as I held his head still.

"Chris?  What's going on?  What are you do-" he began, but was cut off when I placed the piece to the back of his head.  B.E.N.'s once yellow eyes turned blue.  He froze for a moment as I prayed that I hadn't done something wrong.

"You know, I was just thinking, I was just think- all my memories are flooding back!!  Right up until the point where Flint pulled out my memory circuits so that I couldn't tell anyone about his booby trap!!" B.E.N. yelled.  There was suddenly a loud crash somewhere in the distance, followed by a series of explosions that were impossible to ignore.

"Speaking of which, Flint wanted to make sure that no one could ever steal his treasure so he rigged this whole planet to blow higher than a kalepsian kite!" B.E.N. spat out all at once.  I giant pillar fell to the golden sphere, creating a huge hole.  All the treasure began to fall in as massive lasers spun around, melting and zapping everything in its path.

"Run for your life!" yelled B.E.N.

"You guys go help the captain and Doc.  If I'm not back in five minutes, leave without me," Jim commanded.

"Will do Jimmy sir!" B.E.N. obeyed as he headed for the exit.  He almost seemed pleased to get out of here.

"I'm staying here," I announced.

"No, you have to go.  I'll be there in a few minutes," Jim told me.  I didn't move.  Jim gave me a stern look, but I still didn't budge.  He rolled his eyes and sighed.

"There's just no point in arguing with you, is there?" he joked.  I smiled as he bent down to get the play with the wiring and get the boat working.  I helped him put everything in place to get the old thing to move.  Jim tossed out a whole bunch of junk that sat under the control panel, including a pile of ropes.

"Hold this," he said as he handed it to me.  Not sure of what we could use it for, I took it.  Jim sat back down and messed with the wires a little bit longer.   There was a roar as the engines started as we lifted off the ground.

"Yes!  We are so outa here!" exclaimed Jim as he piloted the boat.  

"Ah, Jimbo!  Ain't ye' the seventh wonder of the universe!" shouted Silver.  I spun around as Jim grabbed a sword and pointed it at him.

"Get back," Jim demanded.  Silver's cheery face turned to a strict frown.  

"I'm come too far to let ye' stand between me and me treasure," said Silver in a cold, hard voice as he walked closer.  Jim and I backed up, afraid of what Silver might do.  The boat creaked and there was a loud blast.  We had steered into one of the lasers.  The boat toppled over as we all fell out.  Jim shot off down the side and off a cliff.  He luckily grabbed onto something sticking out of the wall to save him.  I managed to stop myself from going down, thank god.  

"Jim!" I cried out as I reached my hand down to him.  I couldn't reach so I leaned closer.  He struggled to hold a hand out, but we were still to far apart.  I slipped, but quickly caught myself before falling.  

"Silver!" I called out, trying to get his help.  Even though he is the last person on earth that I'd ever turn to for help, I asked him anyway.  Silver, who didn't want to let go of the boat, tried to reach down, but didn't get any further then I had.  I had to think quickly.  I just then realized that I still had the pile of ropes around my arm.  I tied one end to my waist, but there was nothing to tie the other end to.  Suddenly, the thing that stuck out of the wall Jim had a hold on moved back into the wall.  Jim fell further down, but managed to grab hold on another piece that stuck out.  This one was slowly moving back into the wall too.

"Silver, help!!" I screamed in fear that Jim might fall for good this time.  A few seconds passed, but it seemed like an eternity.  Finally, Silver let go of the stupid boat and ran to the rescue.

"Go!" he yelled as he grabbed the other end of the rope.  I nodded and dove off the platform.  Jim was frantically trying to hold onto the wall.  Just before he fell I grabbed his arm.  Jim looked up with relieved eyes.  I reached for his other hand as Silver pulled us back up.  We made it to the top, both gasping for breath.  I smiled once again, in amazement that that greedy old cyborg would give up all that treasure.

We ran out of the door to find the legacy waiting for us with Doppler at the wheel.  We jumped on as the ship took off.  I was beginning to think we had a chance of making it out when suddenly a piece of the planet shot through the sail.  A board fell down hitting the thrusters.  B.E.N. said something about them, but I didn't make it out his words exactly.

"That means, we'll never make it out of the explosion in time," said Doppler.  I did hear him, but I was beginning to wish I hadn't.  Everyone paused as an awkward silence took over.

"Wait, we have to turn the ship around!" yelled Jim.

"What?!" I shouted, totally confused. 

"There's a portal back there.   It can get us out," he explained.

"But how are we going to open a different door?  We can't go back into the center of the planet," I questioned.

"I just need a way to attach these things," said Jim.  He held a large piece of metal in and one of the thrusters from the ship.  He was trying to make a solar surfer.

"Alright, stand back," said Silver as he turned his hand into a laser and melted the two pieces together.  I helped them lift the machine to the edge, but once again, the stupid sleeve on my jacket got me into trouble.  It accidentally caught onto the solar surfer.  When Jim shot off, it pulled me off the ship.  But instead of staying attached to the surfer, it came undone.  I fell off the ship and towards the planet.  I screamed as I felt the wind rush past me.  I was too scared to see anything; it all just looked like a giant blur.  I felt heat, only it got hotter by the second.  I must have been getting closer to the lava.  Right before I thought I was going to die, I stopped.  I felt a hand grab hold of mine and looked up.  Jim looked down at me, standing on his solar surfer.  He pulled me up onto the small machine and raced back to the ship.  Jim got as close as he could so that I could jump back on.  We had to hurry; we were getting closer and closer to the portal.  I leapt for the ship, but just then Jim noticed a wall that there was about to crash into.  He swerved to get away and made it, but I didn't.  I shot past the boat like a bullet.  By the time Jim looked back, I was already out of view.  The Legacy flew by him as he searched for me, but had no luck.

"Jim!  The portal!!" screamed Dr. Doppler.  Though he didn't want to, Jim turned back around and headed for the door, full speed.  It was a close race; Jim was just in front of the ship.  B.E.N. began to count the seconds.

"Five, four," he started.  Jim reached as far as he could to touch the globe.

"Three, two, one!!!" B.E.N. shouted.  There was a flash of green light, then the ship shot into a dark blue, star covered sky.  They made it.  Montressor Spaceport sat in the distance as everyone rejoiced.  Jim landed back on the boat to receive congratulations from everyone.

 "Unorthodox, but ludicrously effective.  I'd be proud to recommend you to the Interstellar Academy.  They could use a man like you," the captain complemented.  Normally, Jim would have been pleased, but a sad thought had a hold of his mind.

"Jim, I'm awfully sorry about Christine," said Doppler, though Jim was still depressed.

"If it helps, we couldn't have made it out without her.  I'm just sorry that she wasn't here for the end," said Captain Amelia.  Jim looked around for Silver, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Jim headed down to where the longboats were stored.  Silver was ready to leave right away.  He was going to be put to jail.  They talked for a while, and Silver ended up leaving Morph with Jim.  As they spoke, Silver showed a side to him that I wished I was around to see.  It was a caring, kind side that only one in a million pirates had.   

"For your dear mother," said Silver as he handed Jim a handful of treasure that he must have saved "to rebuild that inn of hers."  Silver winked as he said this.

"And one more thing.  There's someone waiting for you out on the deck," Silver smiled.  A little confused, Jim continued the conversation.

"Stay out of trouble, you old scalawag," he joked.

"Why, Jimbo, lad, when have I ever done otherwise?" Silver called as he flew away in the longboat.  Jim headed back up the stairs.  He looked around to find the person Silver was talking about.  He almost flew off the ground when he saw me.  I was leaning against the edge staring out into space.  Jim ran up to me, full speed and hugged me.

"Chris!  I can't believe it!  How did you, I mean, how could you have," he sputtered.  He was smiling bigger than I had ever seen him smile before.  I smiled back.

"Silver caught me right before the ship passed me by," I explained.  There was a moment where no one said anything; we just looked at each other, our eyes locked.

"You did it," I congratulated.  

"No, we did it, Christine Flint," Jim smiled.  Then B.E.N. walked up.

"Chrissy!!  I thought you, I mean, well," he began, also stuttering "I'm just glad to see you, pal!!"

I smiled one more time, just happy to be alive at the moment.  It was startling.  Just one voyage on a ship, and I had changed so much.  I had smiled more in two weeks than I had in my life.  I felt like how I had when my parents were still alive.  Nothing could hurt my good mood.  I was the happiest I'd ever be in a lifetime.


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

We made it back to the spaceport perfectly fine, though Captain Amelia was a very upset that Silver had escaped so easily.  We landed and everyone got off.  We had to call the police to come and get the pirates that had made it through the trip.  

"It'll be good to get home," Jim sighed.  He turned to me, expecting an answer, but I didn't say a word.  I didn't have a home anywhere.

"What home?" I complained.  Jim looked down at the ground, probably thinking up something.

"You know, it's strange.  I spent my whole life searching for this treasure that I don't know what to do now that's it's gone forever," I sighed.

"You know, when I said I had plans, I mean it," Jim said.  I looked at him funny, trying to figure out what he was going at.

"I'm going to make a lot of changes," he continued.  I nodded, having nothing better to say.

"What about you?  What are you going to make up first?" he asked, restating my words from earlier.

"There's nothing I can do," I said honestly.

"What about a home?  How do you plan to make up for that?" he asked.  I was beginning to think that Jim was just making fun of me.

"I don't know," I answered coldly.

"I think I do," said Jim.  I raised an eyebrow, totally confused.

"You can have a room at the inn my mom owns, after we rebuild it," he offered.  I felt my face light up.

"I mean, you could get a job there, we could both go to the academy, and-" he tried to talk, but I cut him off by running up to him and hugging him.

"Jim!  Thank you so much!" I screamed with joy.  I felt tears drop down my face, but they were good tears; tears of joy, not pain.  Jim hugged me back, and we stood there for a moment, just holding each other.  This was wonderful.  I wouldn't have to live on the road anymore, and I didn't have to search for a reason to live.  I had a life now, and a place to live it.

We finished construction on the new Benbow Inn almost immediately.  I had my own room and everything.  Morph and B.E.N. were now permanent residents too.  Jim and I had been accepted in the Interstellar Academy, on Captain Amelia's request, and we learned everything there is to know about being a spacer.  We continued studies and visited the Benbow every vacation we got.  Amelia and the doctor got married and had four kids on their own.  Everything was perfect.  And all because of one legend which I strived to prove real.  It all happened because I chased a dream, but I found more than the dream I was looking for.  I found a whole bunch of dreams and fantasies, all put together to make my life worth living. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A little corny, I kno, but I had 2 end it somehow.  I plan 2 make a sequel someday…nd by that I really mean SOMEDAY.  It'll have a different title, but I'll b sure 2 include this story's title n the summary.  If u have written these yourself, u kno how much it means when ppl give a review, so please write something!!  Thanx!

Luv,

Chrissy (the author, not the character! lol)


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